Factors to be considered in selecting a text for a foreign language classroom are divided into five categories--student/text relationship, curriculum/text relationship, class size/text relationship, teacher/text relationship, and internal construction of the text--are discussed. (RM)

What to consider when selecting and buying audiovisual equipment and materials, what to expect from dealers, how to negotiate prices and services, and what special services are available. (LS)

Science libraries buy many unneeded books in the effort to provide all needed books. Since books are the least-used source of information for physicists and other scientists, highly selective, objective criteria need to be developed and applied to book selection so as to limit acquisitions to items really needed. (Author)

The relationship that a college or university develops with its external auditor can make a substantial contribution to the fiscal management of the institution. Since the last edition of this book more than a dozen years ago, changing standards, a shrinking industry, and tougher government regulation have drastically altered the nature of…

This report describes recent hiring and retirement patterns as well as tenure-related changes and actions taken by public and private not-for-profit postsecondary institutions that offered an associate's or higher degree in fall 2003 and participated in federal Title IV student aid programs. The 2004 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty…

The great and growing number of series and sequels guarantees that children can find books to meet their interests and developmental needs from an early age. And a great number of series books are targeted to upper elementary and middle school children. This guide is designed to be an essential tool to aid young readers to find new books in the…

This guide is designed to assist school districts in selecting school sites that provide both a safe and supportive environment for the instructional program and the learning process, and gain state approval for the selected sites. The guide includes a set of selection criteria that have proven helpful to site selection teams, information about…

The general purpose of this study was to examine the efficiency of the Precision Efficacy Analysis for Regression (PEAR) method for choosing appropriate sample sizes in regression studies used for precision. The PEAR method, which is based on the algebraic manipulation of an accepted cross-validity formula, essentially uses an effect size to…

This study examined the relationship between writing quality, readability, and selectivity in 17 higher education journals. Readability was assessed through two indexes of readability. Data were analyzed using zero-order Pearson product-moment correlations, independent two sample t-tests, and analysis of covariance. Findings show that quality of…

To satisfy the security requirements of computerized adaptive tests (CATs), efforts have been made to control the exposure rates of optimal items directly by incorporating statistical methods into the item selection procedure. Since differences are likely to occur between the exposure control parameter derivation stage and the operational CAT…

The purpose of this Digest is to explore how heroes and heroines in children's literature from around the world help young learners understand and appreciate different cultures. It considers how protagonists can serve as role models for children; discusses how it is possible to obtain insights into universal and culturally specific values and…

This report is the second in a series that focuses on the appointment and training of public college and university trustees. It reports on a study that compared the perceptions of governors, who are usually involved directly in the appointment process, and state higher education executive officers (SHEEOs), who are usually on the fringes of the…

This booklet examines seven planning and decision-making tips for investing in and building tennis courts that can prolong court life and get the most from the investment. It examines defining needs, developing a budget, considering the use of a consultant, choosing a site, choosing a surface and developing working specifications, making specific…

Information based item selection methods in computerized adaptive tests (CATs) tend to choose the item that provides maximum information at an examinee's estimated trait level. As a result, these methods can yield extremely skewed item exposure distributions in which items with high "a" values may be overexposed, while those with low…

The purpose of this study was to compare a proposed revised a-stratified, or alpha-stratified, USTR method of test item selection with the original alpha-stratified multistage computerized adaptive testing approach (STR) and the use of maximum Fisher information (FSH) with respect to test efficiency and item pool usage using simulated computerized…